The present invention relates to spare wheel carriers for vehicles and more particularly to wheel carriers adapted to be mounted on the rear bumper of a vehicle having a rear door, such as a General Motors Mini-Blazer or Ford Bronco II.
The prior art discloses the concept of mounting a spare wheel carrier on the bumper of a vehicle. In addition, the prior art discloses a spare wheel carrier in which the wheel is supported both by the rear door of the vehicle and by the bumper. Examples of such known prior art devices include U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,814, Baldi; U.S. Pat. No. 2,698,118, Dickason; U.S. Pat. No. 3,371,832, Sekin et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,326, Podraza; U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,777, Staranick et al.; and, U.S. Pat. No. 3,700,130, Holdread. However, a problem has been found with the above-mentioned spare wheel carriers in that those supported exclusively by the bumper tend to cause excessive vibration and that those attached to the rear door tended to damage the rear door during use of the vehicle.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a spare wheel carrier which is principally supported on the rear bumper of a vehicle, but which has means for damping the vibration of the wheel carrier against the rear door of the vehicle.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a spare wheel carrier that can be mounted on a variety of bumper designs and door configurations.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a spare wheel carrier which pivots out of the path of the rear door of the vehicle so as to facilitate the opening thereof and the removal of the tire from the spare wheel carrier.